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Legislation would charge prisoners who throw feces at guards

LANSING — Inmates who throw bodily fluids such as urine, feces, semen or blood at corrections officers could face up to four additional years behind bars under legislation awaiting a vote in the state Senate.

Early this year, the State Journal reported on a partnership between the state and the Michigan Corrections Organization, the union representing corrections officers in state prisons, to tackle this issue. MCO officials said the state responded to individual incidents appropriately but they weren't uniformly tracked or prosecuted. The state and union were partnering with prosecutors and police to improve the response to such incidents.

The state doesn't specifically track incidents of thrown bodily fluids, but the Department of Corrections said in its latest report to lawmakers that prison employees were assaulted 526 times in 2015.

The legislation, Senate bills 1080 and 1081, would create a felony charge for inmates who throw or attempt to throw "bodily material." The bills are awaiting a vote in the Senate and still must clear the House before going to the governor's desk. The state House's last scheduled session day is Thursday.